GM exec Susan Docherty to leave automaker

6:08 PM, June 21, 2013

Susan Docherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe, kneels by the automaker's new Corvette Stingray during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 15. / Carlos Osorio/AP

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Susan Docherty, head of Chevrolet and Cadillac sales and marketing in Europe, is leaving General Motors effective Sept. 30.(Photo by Jim Fets for General Motors) / Jim Fets for General Motors

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Susan Docherty, once a rising star in General Motors’ marketing group, will leave the automaker in September after 26 years with GM.

Docherty most recently was president and managing director of European operations for Chevrolet and Cadillac. She has held several prominent roles for GM.

In the company’s pre-bankruptcy era, she served as general manager of Buick-GMC and the discontinued Pontiac and Hummer brands. She also served as vice president of U.S. sales, service and marketing for a brief stint under then-CEO Ed Whitacre after GM emerged from Chapter 11.

In a May 2011 interview with the Free Press, Docherty, who was working in Shanghai, China, at the time, said she had moved 15 times in 24 years at the company.

During Docherty’s tenure in Europe, Chevrolet sales have grown despite the weakest overall new car market in at least 20 years.

GM said in a statement that Docherty “announced her intention to leave General Motors to spend time with her family” starting Sept. 30. The automaker said it would announce a successor later.

“After almost three decades at this great company, working at an incredible pace in markets around the world, I've decided to take a break, invest time in my family and chart a new course for my career,” Docherty said in a statement. “I leave with incredible memories and valued friendships with high hopes for GM's continued success.”

Her departure comes as CEO Dan Akerson is reorganizing the company’s marketing structure and giving new executives global responsibility over Chevy and Cadillac.

In the fall, he appointed Bob Ferguson as vice president of global Cadillac. Earlier this year, Akerson hired Volkswagen executive Tim Mahoney as Chevrolet’s chief global marketing officer.

Docherty’s past positions included GM vice president of international operations sales, marketing and aftersales, based in Shanghai, and general manager of Buick-Pontiac-GMC.

In May 2011, she described the day she notified GM customers that Pontiac was shutting down as a “very frustrating” moment that motivated her.